Top 10 Things To Do In Cairns

1. Stay at Gilligan’s hostel, right in the centre of the city and with plenty of deals on offer!

2. Go for coffee at Bang on Spence Street. The drinks and food are great, the atmosphere is wicked and the staff are pretty easy in the eye!

3. Visit Cairns Regional Art Gallery. The $5 entry fee is a bit steep in my opinion and it’s a pretty tiny place, but there’s some interesting art work on display and it makes for a nice outing.

4. Drink at PJ O’Brians…they have something going on every night, from pole dancing competitions to topless men giving out free champagne (sorry boys, this one’s just for the ladies!).

5. Go to the Centre of Contemporary Arts on Abbott Street. It has free entry and some awesome (and often interactive) pieces on display.

6. Go and sing your heart out at Japanese/Aussie restaurant Kanpai (on Shields St)…for just $5 per hour plus the cost of a drink you get your own private karaoke booth and a selection of songs so big it would take you about a year to get through them all! Epic fun.

7. Treat yourself to a meal at Lillipad’s cafe, just across the road from Gilligan’s. Everything on the menu is absolutely, amazingly delicious, whether you order the French toast, the bacon and eggs, or go for something a bit more exotic like the ‘Godmother’ (Turkish bread with pesto, pumpkin, courgette, sundries tomatoes and cheese…yum)!

8. Snorkel or dive the Great Barrier Reef. This is DEFINITELY a must-do. There’s aren’t words to describe how incredible the coral is, and you might even be lucky enough to see a turtle!

9. Get coffee at Candy, another cafe across the road from Gilligan’s hostel. The coffee and food are ace, and the decor is pretty special too.

10. Spend a day wandering the Esplanade and lounging about at the lagoon, it’s a great place to catch some rays or just sit and people watch.